Bad Andy
Bad Andy was a mischievous Muppet character created for a Domino's Pizza advertising campaign, Bad Andy. Good Pizza. The spots were created by advertising firm Deutsch Inc. The character was "specially conceived for Domino's by The Jim Henson Company,""Domino's Pizza's New Ad Campaign Provides a Peek Behind the Scenes.", Domino's Pizza press release. May 11, 2000. Reprinted on Muppetcentral.com. and the puppet was built by Tennessee puppet workshop Animax Designs.Advertising gallery on Animaxdesigns.com. In the ads, which launched in May 2000, Bad Andy was a bad Domino's employee who interfered with various aspects of the pizza baking and delivery process. By correcting his mistakes, the other employees in the ads would highlight the importance of those elements. For example, according to a Domino's press release, "in the ad spot titled Sockets, a Domino's Pizza team member notices that all the "Domino's HeatWave Hot Bags" have been unplugged, and the electrical sockets have been filled with other plugs. After following a tangle of electrical cords, the team member discovers Andy relaxing in a massage chair surrounded by a fan, blender, two televisions, a lava lamp and a stereo. As the Domino's team member explains to Andy the importance of the HeatWave Hot Bag for delivering hot, great-tasting pizza, Andy turns up the intensity of the chair until he blows the fuse." Commercials *"Sockets" :Bad Andy unplugs all the "Domino's HeatWave Hot Bags" and uses the outlets for a massage chair, a fan, blender, two televisions, a lava lamp and a stereo. The other employees try to explain how important the Hot Bags are, but Andy ignores them and turns up the intensity on his massage chair until he blows the fuse. *"Sick" :Bad Andy ducks his pizza delivery duties by keeping a thermometer in the "Domino's HeatWave Hot Bag" and claiming to be sick. *"Rolling Pin" :Bad Andy tries repeatedly to convince another employee to use a rolling pin rather than hand-stretching the pizza crust. *"Big Man Trouserz" :Bad Andy changes the sign outside the store from "Today's Special: lg or med pizza, any crust" to read "Today's Special: Big Man Trouserz". Image:Badandy2.jpg|Bad Andy pretends to be sick. Image:Badandy3.jpg|Bad Andy plugs in his TV instead of the HeatWave bags. Reception The ad campaign was not well received by the public, and generated bad press. A New York Magazine article in July 2000 pointed out: Another common criticism was that viewers couldn't tell what kind of animal Bad Andy was supposed to be. In The Detroit News, columnist Neal Rubin asked: "What is Bad Andy, exactly? A monkey? A bear? An extremely furry California raisin?" The "Bad Andy" campaign was dumped in March 2001, and replaced with a new campaign, Get the Door, It's Domino's. "We needed a back-to-basics approach," said Patrick Doyle, acting Domino's executive vice president of brand marketing, in a Detroit Free Press article. "Bad Andy simply didn't get the job done for us." The article went on to say that Domino's Pizza sales at stores open at least one year dropped 2 percent during the last half of 2000, and Domino's officials lay part of the blame at Bad Andy's furry feet. Marketing consultant Elizabeth Goodgold reported on the story on her website: Domino's Pizza dropped advertising company Deutsch Inc. in January 2002, and hired a competing agency, J. Walter Thompson, to continue the Get the Door, It's Domino's campaign. According to an article on Pizzamarketplace.com, "While McIntyre declined to comment on whether Domino’s was dissatisfied with Deutsche’s work, the short-lived and often-criticized Bad Andy campaign has been fingered by media critics as a key source of tension between the two companies." Despite the poor public appeal for "Bad Andy", a plush version of the puppet was created and available in limited supply. In 2004, the Muppets were enlisted in competitor Pizza Hut's marketing campaign, appearing in a string of commercials that debuted during the Super Bowl. Sources *Domino's press release *"Pie Hard", Simon Dumenco, New York Magazine, July 24, 2000. *"Wyandotte seeks image upgrade", Neal Rubin, The Detroit News, September 26, 2000. *"Domino's Tells Bad Andy Good Riddance", Jennifer Bott, Detroit Free Press, March 6, 2001. *"Don't Annoy," Elizabeth Goodgold, Nuancing.com, 2001. *"Domino's drops Deutsche (sic), picks J. Walter Thompson as agency of record", Steve Coomes, Pizzamarketplace.com, January 23, 2002. External Links *Domino's official site *Deutsch Inc.'s official site __NOWYSIWYG__ Category:Muppet Characters Category:Commercials Characters